For my birthday, my daughter gave me some Crazy Love Notes – it is a colourful set of cards with Naïve Art drawings to support the messages. I was picking a card each day for fun. I liked all the messages and simple drawings, always giving me something to ponder on. Then one day I drew a card titled “Gossip Dims Your Glow.” The message on the back of the card reads: Speaking poorly about others tarnishes your energy and your reputation. So avoid bonding over complaints and feeling superior. Instead, raise your vibration by engaging in positive communication. Celebrate what does work and who is awesome. The more you do this, the more radiant you will become. I don’t normally speak poorly about others. So on the surface, it would appear that this message didn’t really apply to me. And yet, the next day I did not draw a new card, instead leaving the Gossip Dims Your Glow card in the upright holder. In the days following, I continued to leave it up – where I would see it when walking by the shelf.
The next weekend I attended a community day. During the day we had a wide variety of activities such as group exercises and stretches, a big communal dance which included the children, a shared lunch in which everyone brought a plate, some music from different members of the community and, in the afternoon, we were asked to partner up with someone for a little activity about being in True Community. The activity was this. We were supposed to think of someone who we find annoying. We weren’t to identify them – just hold that person in our thoughts. It might be someone in our community or it could be a work colleague or a family member. We were then asked to speak for two minutes about the person who annoys us but we weren’t allowed to say anything about what annoys us! Instead we were to only speak about the magic that the person brings into the world. In other words, we were supposed to see through the surface irritation and recognise their positive qualities, their divine essence. We were to recognise the pearl within, you might say. A few people came to mind! The person I chose is well liked by others but we just do not ‘get along’. It is easy enough not to say anything bad about them, but singing their praises was another matter. I was surprised to discover that I had so much difficulty seeing, acknowledging or saying anything good about this person. I had let my irritation become so big that I couldn’t see the pearl that they are in truth. When the two minutes were up, my partner gave a sigh of relief saying, “Well, that was painful listening to you struggle through that.” I agreed! Then an hour or so later, we were listening to a musical performance by some friends on stage. I looked down at my hands and discovered that the pearl had fallen out of the setting in my little gold ring. I had bought the ring in Broome, Western Australia in 2001 when I was on holiday. I’ve worn that ring most days since. I was disappointed to have lost the pearl, but not devastated. It was just a ring. I knew I could get a replacement pearl. But – then – disappointment started to set in because the pearl I lost was a keshi pearl – from Broome, a unique place in a unique country. Keshi pearls refer to those pearls formed when a bead nucleus is rejected, so the pearl grows even though it has been rejected by the culturing process. When there was a break in the music, I turned to my friend sitting next to me (the one I had partnered with) and said, “Oh look, the pearl has fallen out of my ring.” She asked, ‘Do you want me to help you look for it?” I said no because I had no idea when it had fallen out and it was a small white pearl in a very large room. I had been there all day, it could be anywhere, even out in the carpark. She looked at me for a moment, and then turned her head and looked straight at the tiny little pearl which had rolled back under the chairs to the aisle behind us. She picked it up and handed it to me. I immediately spotted this as one of those Magic of God Moments. I have had this ring for 19 years, wearing it almost daily. I recently wore it all around the world, climbing pyramids in Egypt, scaling ancient castle walls in the French Pyrenees, and hiking in the Scottish Highlands. Why did the pearl fall out today? The pearl could have fallen out at any moment in any impossible-to-find place. Why was it only one row back and why did my friend look straight at it? She hadn’t even gotten out of her chair. To me it was obvious that God was speaking to me through symbolism. What did it mean to ‘lose the pearl’? I’m not sure if I got it (the message) in that very moment or if it was sometime later in the evening. It doesn’t matter because now I can clearly see the correlation between losing the pearl from my ring and losing the pearl of the essence of the person I considered irritating. Fortunately, I have found the pearl – both, for my ring and in the person that I had previously considered annoying. I can’t say this exercise completely resolved my irritation with this person but it most certainly did open my eyes to the problem being as much my attitude as it was any behaviour on the part of the other person. It made me realise that not speaking poorly about another is not good enough. Refraining from speaking ill of another or gossiping does not make me a bearer of light and love. Most of us, and I feel this applies to all generations, have been taught to give compliments very sparingly. Why is that so? Over time, we learned that if we give compliments, it makes people like us. Many of us, eventually, began to give compliments in order to get something in return. It isn’t that much of a stretch to begin to give false compliments in order to get whatever we want. We haven’t been taught how to confirm others. A confirmation is different to a compliment. A confirmation is something that is true and we are acknowledging it. In the last couple of years, if I receive a confirmation from someone, I accept it graciously because I know it is true and that they are not attempting to flatter me. While I had worked out for myself the difference between a false compliment and a confirmation, I had not yet realised how stingy I was with giving others confirmation – until the activity of True Community. Now, I can really feel the importance of confirming others. Life is difficult, for all of us. Read anybody’s autobiography, even the elite, the wealthy, the talented, the happy have all struggled to love themselves. When we recognise the pearl in someone, we should tell them, we should tell others. We can spread the love by confirming that it exists in all of us, and being sincerely generous with that confirmation.
15 Comments
Julie Chung
19/1/2020 10:09:58 am
Gayle, I love this it says so much in the most beautiful way. Thank-you for your sharing.
Reply
Gayle
19/1/2020 01:38:45 pm
It's lovely to hear from you, Julie. Thanks for the feedback. It was long and I did cover a lot of ground so I'm pleased you found it coherent!
Reply
Stephanie Stevenson
19/1/2020 04:24:46 pm
Thank you Gayle for another gorgeous blog written from sharing your experiences in life, bringing awareness to how the seemingly unrelated things are absolute gems and that everything has meaning to support our evolution.
Reply
Gayle
20/1/2020 06:50:21 am
Yes, I agree Stephanie - everything has meaning, even the small things that are easy to overlook. And yes everything can support our evolution! Living with this awareness certainly increases the joy factor.
Reply
Leonne
20/1/2020 10:02:32 am
A true pearl of wisdom 🌟
Reply
Gayle
23/1/2020 02:19:30 pm
heehee - good one Leonne
Reply
20/1/2020 03:10:05 pm
Gayle, this is beautiful symbolism to support deepening awareness around this topic.
Reply
Gayle
23/1/2020 02:27:30 pm
You've identified the killer point Emma - it is all too easy to give up or walk away. Its not like most of us want to get involved with aggression, dishing it out or defending against it. We don't want to be mean. We don't want others to be mean. So it is easiest to just walk away. But do we have the courage to do the real work? Yes, the real work is to find what is true and work together to find the common ground. We have to find brotherhood in our own lives before we will ever see it in the world at large.
Reply
Lorraine
20/1/2020 07:53:11 pm
I loved what you shared Gayle, resonating with your story. Made into a little book, illustrated, it would be magical to take into schools! You speak from your heart with such honesty and truth. Thank you.
Reply
Gayle
23/1/2020 02:28:49 pm
Thank you Lorraine. I have a couple of friends who write children's books. I'll give them the idea. Thanks for the suggestion.
Reply
Jan
21/1/2020 04:10:39 am
Gayle, You write so eloquently about your experiences and your life, and I'm grateful to find a connection in what you express. Thank you for sharing.
Reply
Gayle
23/1/2020 02:30:11 pm
Your words go straight to my heart! That's the whole reason I write blogs - for others to find a connection in our shared experiences. Thank you, Jan.
Reply
21/1/2020 08:43:52 pm
A pearl of a blog Gayle thank you, such a great wise lesson for us all.
Reply
Gayle
23/1/2020 02:30:43 pm
♥️
Reply
Melinda Knights
8/3/2020 04:32:27 pm
Lovey to read Gayle, and the experience of losing the pearl and the symbolism will really stay with me. How powerful our world community would be if we related to each other this way, seeing and confirming the beauty that each person brings and knowing our own.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorGayle Cue loves writing about life, reflecting on every day miracles and pondering on the big picture. Subscribe to receive latest blogs and updates.
Categories
All
|